Cannabis Blog

Law enforcement agencies pulling shakedown maneuvers in medical marijuana states are now being forced back to the drawing board to develop an alternative to their once tried-and-true method for establishing probable cause: an officer claiming to smell weed. Several judges, including a few presiding over an Arizona court, have recently ruled that the odor of marijuana no longer gives police the right to initiate a raid.

The Arizona Court of Appeals recently delivered a verdict suggesting that with the passing of the state’s medical marijuana law, the odor of raw or burnt cannabis could no longer be used to determine probable cause. In the decision, Judge Peter Eckerstrom wrote that medical marijuana “is lawful under Arizona law,” and therefore “its scent alone does not disclose whether a crime has occurred.”

Essentially, this means that Arizona police can no longer petition a judge for a search warrant simply because an officer claims to smell weed. Instead, the court declared that law enforcement would need to implement an “odor-plus” policy when investigating potential criminal activity associated with marijuana. Otherwise, Eckestrom wrote, the state is witting violating the constitutional rights of its people.

The first television ad for a marijuana product, set to run on a local Colorado station Tuesday night, has been pulled from the lineup over legal concerns.

The 15-second spot for Neos, which makes "vape pens" infused with cannabis oil, was scheduled to air on Denver ABC affiliate KMGH before the "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" show, a Neos representative told NBC News last week.

But Scripps, the parent company of Denver station KMGH, decided that the commercial shouldn't run, said Valerie Miller, a Scripps communications manager.

The local station had previously approved the spot, but then told Cannabrand, the marketing company representing Neos, that the ad would be put on hold indefinitely as the parent company "investigates the legality of airing a 'federally illegal' substance on federal airwaves," a Cannabrand statement said. Recreational marijuana is legal in Colorado but not on a federal level.

On Thursday, July 23rd Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is hosting a Congressional Briefing with Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) on federal barriers faced by researchers working to understand the medical uses of marijuana. The briefing will provide expert testimony on how federal policy has undermined medical marijuana research, the state of contemporary medical marijuana research and the impact of reform proposals.

Dr. Sue Sisley will present testimony on how federal barriers have directly blocked her research on using marijuana to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder including the adverse impacts of the Drug Enforcement Agency licensing only one entity (National Institute on Drug Abuse) to grow the federal research supply of marijuana. Dr. David Casarett, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and author of the recently published book, Stoned: A Doctor’s Case for Medical Marijuana will discuss contemporary medical marijuana research. The final speaker will be John Hudak, fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institute and Managing Editor of the FixGov blog. Mr. Hudack will be discussing the often misunderstood impact of moving marijuana to a different schedule classification under the Controlled Substances Act.

“With prominent members of Congress calling for more research on medical marijuana, it’s time we start hearing from experts about how to make increased medical marijuana research a reality,” said Steph Sherer ASA Executive Director. ”These experts can tell us first hand how the federal government’s policies undermine research and how reforms like the CARERS act can move this essential medical research in area forward.”